My paternal Grandfather was part of the Canadian Corps and was severely wounded at the Second Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium in 1917 and spent the rest of the war on board a hospital ship in Liverpool Harbour. My maternal Grandfather served in WW2 with the field Engineers and was a sapper. My grandmother was a British Intelligence Officer during WW2 , and my father and two uncles all served in Korea with the PPCLI. Many other relatives have served in both peacetime and war. I don't believe my post that removed was worthy of removal, however the moderator deemed it so, so I guess it was. I served for 34 years, proudly so I'll respond with this poem by Kenny Martin.
I do not know your name
I do not know your name, but I know you died
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died
Your uniform, branch of service, it matters not to me
Whether Volunteer or Conscript, or how it came to be
That politicians' failures, or some power-mad ambition
Brought you too soon to your death, in the name of any nation
You saw, you felt, you knew full well, as friend and foe were taken
By bloody death, that your life too, was forfeit and forsaken
Yet on you went and fought and died, in your close and private hell
For Mate or Pal or Regiment and memories never to tell
It was for each other, through shot and shell, the madness you endured
Side by side, through wound and pain, and comradeship assured
No family ties, or bloodline link, could match that bond of friend
Who shared the horror and kept on going, at last until the end
We cannot know, we were not there, it's beyond our comprehension
To know the toll that battle brings, of resolute intention
To carry on, day by day, for all you loved and hoped for
To live in peace a happy life, away from bloody war
For far too many, no long life ahead, free of struggle and pain and the gun
And we must remember the price that was paid, by each and every one
Regardless of views, opinions aside, no matter how each of us sees it
They were there and I cannot forget, even though I did not live it
I do not know your name, but I know you died
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died.
Kenny Martin
? 2003